Glassworking apparatus



J. w. JUVINALL ET AL April 18, 1950 GLASSWORKING APPARATUS 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 7, 1945' lllll NE W. 2% MW@ 0 E0N.T W S M mi3 Patented Apr. 18, 1950 nun-ED: sa'i? OFFICE 4 Claims. 1

This. invention: relates. to. glass working apparatus and morevparticularly to an apparatus for alignin and: sealing. lead-in wires to?glass stem headslforvacuum tubes and attaching glass stemstheretor An:object. of: theinvention is the provision of. an: apparatus foraccurately. and expeditiouslyaligning: and. sealingthe: heretoforementioned Wires and stemsnto glassistemtheads for. vacuum. tubes;

In accordance: with the abovev object, this in.-. vention; contemplates,in: one? embodiment thereof, an" apparatus :by means ofrwhich: glassbeaded. lead-in; wires. are aligned with-a glass stemhead forja'vacuum'tub'e, and the glass is fused to adhereto th glass beaded Wires,afterv which, and. while the. glass is still plastic, the wires are.moved downwardly by plunger to. draw and shape the surrounding: glassaroundthe Wires to provide" aseal. therebetween and strengthening the.glass to. minimize cracking thereof and simultaneously fuse:- a'istem.to the head.

Other: objectsandi advantages of the invention will be apparentifrom.the following; detailed de' scription taken in conjunctionwithttheuaccompanying drawings, in which:

Fig, 1 isxai. fragmentary view in disconnected relationof; vacuumtubei'parts to; be assembled, fusedandzsealed .in the. use oftheapparatus; em.-

bodying theinvention, the glass: parts being.

shownin vertical; section and. one. of the leadiein" wires beingshown inelevation;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section: of the finished vacuum tube assemblageafter removal-from the; apparatus;

Fig. 3: is a fragmentary vertical: central;sec-- tion of the apparatus"of? this. invention" shown mounted; on an intermittently rotatable.carrier of an'automatic machine, the carrier being shown fragmentarilyand the apparatus: imposition loading the parts-to be fused and sealed;

Fig. 4' is: a similar'view ofthe apparatus taken at right. angles: tothat: shownin Fig; 3; certain: parts being in difierent positions.andthe parts to' be assembledLmOuntedstheIeDn;

Fig. 5'is'a fragmentary viewv similar-to Fig. 3 showing: the relation ofthetparts of.theapparatus upon completion; oi 'fthefusin'gv and sealing.op-- erations; and

Fig. 6 is auplan section taken on-the line 6-6 oilifi'g. 5;

Although? not. limited. thereto, apparatus embodying the features: ofthe invention maybe employed; to advantage: for aligning, .fusin'g and"sealing; glass parts: of: an assembla'geused me vacuum. tube. As shown.in Fig. 1 suchan-asrsemblageimay'comprise .an' inverted cup-like: glassst'emzheacl lfl providedawith five nipple-like pro, jeetionszl I;.having apertures: i2: extendingtherethrough; on itsupper: face (Figs;1-. and 6).. To. the center. projection H is; fused: aitubular. glass:stem: 35.. Entered in: each of. the: apertures. l2: arrangediaroundithe-center aperture: is. a. lead-in? wireor: conductor: i 4::having; secured. thereto..-ine termediate: its length a glassa bead. llof: such" diameter: that. it: may freely enter: the; aperture .25 To;complete the assemblage, the. glass beads. l-i: and; the: surrounding;-glass 'walls of the, apertures; l2 are-fused togetheraftenfirstaccurately positicning the: beadedawires-s along. the;apertures and; supporting: them; perpendicularly to a lower annular:facezlBi ofi the stemyheadz While: the. fused; glass is. stillaplastic,the; wires. I i are moved slightly downwardly: which seryesto: draw the.upper ends ofthe plastic glass. beadprojections lei; inwardly anddownwardly to: produce the 131013811 curvature: or shape to thefusedglass at the; upper as; well' as: at the lower ends. of the plasticglass. heads. I 11-; surroundingthezwires; pro.- ducing as; desired sealbetween the parts and. strengthening; the. glass and reducing, anytendency thereof to: crack;,. as clearly: indicated at l9. inFigs. 2:and; 5.; vwhich -.illustrates the completed assemblage;

Referring to" the; drawings in detail-and: par-- ticularly; t'ov Figs; 3and: 4,. the-disclosed embodimentof the invention,.indicated in generalat 20', is: preferably: mounted, on an, intermittently operated.automatic; machine, which. is'basically a Charles Eislertype:stem-making; machine, such as: is disclosed? in United. States. PatentNo. 231635235; tot Charles Eisler, dated December 8, 1936,which-includes: a:.r0tatab1e. turret or: carrier 2!, showniragmentarily, carrying a plurality of circularly. arranged; devices:ZEI-mnly. onexof which is illustrated: rotatabiy, mounted inbearings 22adjacentthe periphery of. the carrier; Any suitable: mechanism: (not.shown); may be provided for; effecting an; intermittent:- rotary motionto the carrier" 21;. whereby the several devices 20 are; advanced, step:by step;. past operators located at: certain positi'onsiaroundthe-carrier to load the. parts. [0; I31 and: I4: onithe device; reimovetheicomp'leted assemblage therefrom, manipulate gasr burners: Zii and:2'5 (Figs. 4" and 5) to fuse; the glass parts and? perform otheroperations which: will be" described hereinafterr Me'chanism alsoincluded in. the machine whereby during: the intermittent advance ofthe=devices-r. 2m: with; the; carrier- 2 If. and: during each 3 dwell periodexcept at a single loading station, the devices are continuously rotatedabout their own axis.

The details of the referred-to mechanisms of the machine on which thedevices 26 are mounted have been omitted from this disclosure for thesake of simplicity, since a full disclosure thereof is not essetnial toa complete understanding of the present invention.

Each of the devices 20, only one of which is shown in Figs. 3 to 6,inclusive, comprises a shouldered non-reciprocatory supporting sleeve 25rotatably journalled in the bearing 22 and carrying at its lower end afriction gear 27, which is suitably fixed thereto. The gear 21 mesheswith a driving friction gear 28, shown fragmentarily in broken outlinein Figs. 3 and 4. In the arrangement which is well-known in thereferredto Charles Eisler type of stem-making machine,

a gear 28 is provided at each station except the unloading and loadingstation, where no rotation of the devices 20 takes place. The gears 28are constantly driven in the operation of the machine and thus eachdevice 20 will be constantly rotated at each station through the gears28 and the four lead-in wires M of the assemblage. The

member 34 is pinned at 26 to a central actuati g rod 37, which extendsthrough the sleeves 26 and 32 and to a point below the gear 27, where itengages a cam face 39 of a stationary ring-shaped cam. The arrangementis such that during the bodily rotation of the device 20 with therotating carrierll and at a certain point in each rotation thereof, therod 3'! and member 34 are elevated slightly to the position shown inFig. 4 and thereafter permitted to fall back by gravity to the positionshown in Fig; 5. Fixed to the upper face of the rotatablenon-reciprocatory cup-shaped head 33 is an annular shouldered member 43,upon which is supported an annular seat 4! of asbestos lumber having adepressed upper face upon'which the glass stem head It] is placed (Fig.4). In addition to its reciprocatory movement, the member 34 isconnected for rotation with the head 33 by a pin 42 fixed to the headand slidably fitted in an aperture 43 in the member 34. In its lowerposition (Fig. the member 34 rests upon a face 45 of the head 33 and inits upper position it abuts an annular face 41 of the member 40 (Figs. 3and 4). I

The glass stem head is clamped to the seat 4| bya pair of diametricallyopposite rockable fingers48 (Figs. 3, 5 and 6) fixed to the upper endsof angular shaped members 49 pivoted at their lower ends, as indicatedat 50, to slotted portions of a flanged collar 53 connected to therotary non-reciprocatory sleeve 32 by a pin and slot connection 54,whereby the collar may slide up and down on the sleeve simultaneouslywith its rotation therewith. Intermediate their ends, the members 49 areformed with'cam slots 55, through which extend pins 56 carried indiametrically arranged slotted supports 51, through the slots of whichextend the members 49, the supports being fixed to the sleeve 32. In thebodilyrotation of the device 20, with the rothe stem I 3 in. it setpositionin theaperture.

i tating carrier 2|, after th glass stem head It has been mounted on theface 42 of the seat 4| at the loading station and during rotation aboutits own axis through the gears 28 and 21, a lower annular face 60 of thecollar 53 rides off a stationary cam face El (Fig. 3), which permits thecollar to move downwardly on the sleeve 32 by gravity. During thismovement of the collar 53. the connected members 49 carrying theclamping fingers 48 are moved downward and inward by the cooperating camslots 55 and pins 53 from the full line positions to the broken outlinepositions (Fig. 3). In this last position, as shown in Fig. 5, whereinthe stem head it) is shown on itsseat M, the fingers are engaged over anannular face of the head to hold the latter upon its seat. In anotherposition of the device 26 as it nears the loading station, the face 33of the collar 53 rides up the stationary cam face 6! and the headclamping fingers 48 are moved upwardly and outwardly to releas thecompleted assemblage for removal from the device.

Vertically reciprocable above the head 33 is a plunger carrying block 62fixed to a pair of guide rods 63 slidable in diametrically formedextensions 64 integral with the head 33 (Figs. 4 and 6) Each of the rods63 is guided in the extension 64 by a bearing sleeve 6'! secured in asurrounding relatively long shouldered sleeve 38 fixed at its upper endin the extension, Secured to the lower end of the rod 63 is a guidebearing 69, which is arranged to slide in the bore of the sleeve 68. Inthe extreme lowered position (not shown) of the block 62, it issupported by pins it carried by the rods 63 and engaging the upper facesof the head extensions 64. At the loading position, the block 62 ismanually elevated to a position somewhat higher than that shown in Fig.3 and is held in such position by a spring pressed detent H (Figs.,4 and6) supported in the head extension 64. The detent 'H is arranged tospring into retaining position under the associated rod 63, as the lowerend of th rod moves therepast, the guide bearing 69 on the rod beingformed with a slot 13, which permits the bearing to pass the detent.

Formed in the block 62, which is arranged to rotate with the member 34,are four shouldered apertures 14, which are in accurate fixed alignmentat all times with the apertures 35 of the member 34. The lower portionsof the apertures 14 have a diameter similar to the apertures 35 and areflared at their entrance ends to receive and uide the upper ends of thelead-in wires I4 (Figs. 4 and 5). Carried in each of the block apertures74 is a plunger l5, which is constantly urged to its lowermost positionby a spiral spring 16 (Fig. 3), the position of the plungers varying, asclearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5, with different positions of the member34, which will be referred to hereinafter. Also formed in the block 62is a central aperture Ti, which is in alignment with the axis ofrotation of the member 34 and head 33 and, therefore, of th glass stemhead it and its center apertured projection II. The aperture 11 isadapted to freely receive the tubular glass stem i3 manually insertedthereinto at the loading station and is friction ally supported in aninitial position with its lower end face spaced a suitable distance fromthe upper face of the center projection ll of the glass stern head it,as shown in Fig. 4. Opposed leaf springs 18 attached to anupper circularreduced portion of the block (32 serve to frictionally hold movedrmail'uallm the; operator, removes-i the completed; assemblage, and. atthis r-time-lthezdevieea appears. as shown in Eig. 3;. At all other,stations, the device-:iszrotat-s.

stem'e I331 Aim one; of? thee stations; following the: operation; of;the; device-,;,assv showniin: Fig. 4, which time the glasspartsare-isufiicientlyrmolteng. an'operatomslides:theagla tem'l'ardownwardly 'to-l-ahutlt-her-t lower end face; 85.:thereof; withthe"- upper cadences-852 ofrthezcentenhead projection- Ll and connects;libber: tube: to communicate. mg; with; ax. suitablei sourperof; air'pressure: (not: shown) tortheeupper end" frthe stem I31 E01";

iii lowing-.5 this; the, operators directs a; pencil; types flam'ei:8:};- (Fig: 5) f high; intensity against the; ahuttedg portions of thestem l 3; and; projection-1: Hi; to fuse thegstemz totits heads): Theairgpresa: sures directeclrinto-ttha stems: I aethrouglrthmtubei ing,about it'sgown; axis; Immediatelyethereafterg i; 80rserves= to,prevent-g,collapse of; the hollow: stem;

the, operator: inserts v the: four,v leadein; wires; 14; into:;theapertures 3510f the member-Mrwithzthe shorter; length:,-of the wiresbCIQWnth-G :glassbeads; I1 I lowermost; Then, they glass; stem; head [0;is. mounted-.2011 .itsiseat 4.! thezwiressl 4 being-threade-v ed:through ;-the,. apertures I Z: of: theehead proj ec-l tionsullv: withtherglass beadsa. ll positioned ad-- jacent the lower ends; of.thea-apertures. tubu-l lar glassnstem ll3ziso1then inserted-in theaperture 1-1.0f theplungeribloclc fizeandithezhead is re leasedbpwithdirawirigihe; detent"1l and it'moves downwardly. .untilthefixedly, aligned plungersi l5. enga e the upper end if'aces- 81 ofthe 2 wire 1 M.

In. this-1:describedzpositiomof-"theh'ead 62, they; spring-pressed;plungers T5 are; urged upwardly;

in; the:- head and; theiilower: end: faces 88 of the wires M are.individnallyg maintained :against the bottomwall f :its :aperture 35insthe imember 34,:

thus accurately-locating therlower-t' ends thereof inalignment;-whilethe positions40f the iiplungers;

may vary; due to slightly; different? lengths .ofthe wires i4;above-.the; beads I1. It will be under-4 stood Ithat with-the; plungershearing againstthe upper end faces 8! of the wires-l4;.theentire:

lower end face 85 is spaced a suitabledistance from the upper face 86 ofthe center head projection ll (Fig-.41).-

Upon the termination of the dwell periodofthe machine,., the carrier 2|,is ..au tomatically;indexed toadvance each dviceJlLto-the next-statilori lwhereat through the gears 2l andg28 reach ofthe-devices rotates'about ,its own: axis. When the devic'e 20 leaves the leading stationand-before ,it reaches a series. of-J ,1ow intensity gas fiarneslaiFig.4) locatedfat the next station, the zface 60.,of the collar 53ridesidown the statifonaryecam face 61' and'iri the-manner-rprevb ouslydescribed, the clamping fingers- 48 are moved inwardly and .downwardlytoclamp the glass stem head l0 on -its seat;4|,. to theposition shown inbroken outline in Fig.,3 and in full lines in Fig. 5. Also, the lowerendface of the rod 31 rides up the stationary cam face 39, whichelevates the member 34, and the wires M, with the glass beads I1, areelevated to the position shown in Fig. 4, the glass stem head It]remaining stationary. In addition to the gas flames 19, other gas flames(not shown) of higher intensity are arranged at different stations andin which each arranged to play upon th lower end of the glass 7 telplunger ,carryingpblock l 3cand aprojection''=;v l :l d mg;-;the.ifusing operation;

U-pon dusing thewstem' l 3::to; tliehea'd I l, .the tube- Waistdisconnectedgfronr the:;stem2 and the fiameii 8-I i is :withdrawn.;-Uponathe-idevice: movingifrom'i:

this laststation amdewhilestheaglasstgofrthe fusetl'r head wprojectionil :i and'z-the heads 1 I i :on the. 'WiI'ES? l are still: molten andplastic,; the rod- 377:: rides: down i the stationaryt cam-face 539i:'Iheemember .idzsupporting the wires Maia th'liSrlOWElfiditO theposition =.shown in Fig; Brand thiszmovementipen-t go3.4:;relativeiztostheastationaryrstenr headr.I0.1 This.

movement? of the wires 4;; serves: to: draw and shape thesurroundinggplastic glass of the pro-:- jections; I H. a and thegbeadszllcaroundzth'e wires to provide; the F desired; seal and: to-:strengthen': the

; fusecliglasse and thereby-:minimizingaanytendency:

thereon-to, crackaw asehereinb'efore described and indicated'tat-l 9r.(1?'i'gs;v 2 and ':5). z. As 'the devi'ce :2 0 with the complete'dtassemblageinears 'the loadingsstation; ,th'e zfaceififlzgof:thevcollars53 rides up the; stationary; camifacezi 6'- and the:clam-ping;

fingers lBaaarei'imoved upwardly-and outwardly to s releasesth'er.completed:v assemblage fromits seat 44 :v Upon-the devicez ifl'dwelling iat gtheeloading station; the;roperator;. wi=th aon'ebhand,slides the: upwardly until thede--- tent H: springs underassociated-Trad i 63" and withthe othemhandasremoves the completed- I assemblageefrom itszseatfl i the-devicernow appearing ascshowm-i HEX-3;The operator now pro-f soaceeds to reloa ztheedevicegandfithe-describedcyclaof operationris .repeated;

Itr. will: be understood that the: embodiment herein describeda' fismerely illustrative' of :the in vention and: one appl'ieation-" thereofand thatmodifications-i cambe ma'devand it capable of Q2; for;supportingand Zrotating an apertured glass article-- for receiving, an;element having fixedj thereon I a glass-annulusto be fused and sealed tothe wall of the aperture, a reciprocatory member rotatable with saidsupporting means and article for supporting the element on one of itsend faces with the element positioned so that the annulus ispredeterminedly initially positioned along the aperture, and meansincluding a spring pressed plunger for engaging the opposite end face ofthe element for causing movement of the element relative to the articlesupporting means in another position of the member while the fused glassis plastic to draw and shape the glass around the element to provide aseal therebetween and strengthening the fused glass to minimize crackingthereof, and means for rotat ing said article supporting means, plungerand reciprocatory member. a r

2. In a glass working apparatus having a rotary carrier and a glassfusing heater, the combination of rotary means journalled on the carrierfor supporting and rotating an apertured glass article for receiving anelement having fixed thereon a glass annulus to be fused and sealed tothe wall of the aperture, clamping members pivotally mounted on saidarticle supporting means for holding the article on said supportingmeans, a reciprocatory member rotatable with said supporting means andarticle for supporting the element on one of its end faces so that theannulus is predeterminedly initially positioned along the aperture inone position of said member, means including a spring-pressed plungermounted on the article supporting means for engaging the opposite endface of the element for causing movement of said element to anotherposition relative to the article supporting means in another position ofthe member while the fused glass is plastic to draw and shape the glassaround the element to provide a seal therebetween and strengthening thefused glass to minimize cracking thereof, means for rotating saidarticle supporting means, plunger and reciprocatory member in unison, astationary cam, a slidable member operatively connected to said clampingmembers and engageable with said cam for periodically effecting movementof said clamping members for holding and releasing the article duringrotation of the'carrier, a second stationary cam effective to controlthe movement of said reciprocatory member in timed relation with themovement of said clamping members during movement of the carrier.

3. In a glass working apparatus having a glass fusing heater, thecombination of means for supporting a glass article having apertureseach adapted to receive an element having fixed thereon a glass annulusto be fused and sealed to the wall of the aperture, a reciprocatorymember for supporting said elements on their-lower end faces with theannuli in the apertures in one position of said member, a slidable headhaving apertures aligned with the apertures in the glass article forguiding, receiving and supporting upper ends of the elements, springpressed plungers in said head apertures arranged to individually engageupper end faces of the elements and upon'which the weight of said headbears for longitudinally locating the elements in the reciprocatorymember, and an abutment operatively associated with said member formaintaining it in said one position and upon relative displacementtherefrom permitting movement of said member by the action of gravityrelative to the article supporting means while the fused glass isplastic to permit said slidable head to move downwardly by the action ofgravity and thereby cause movement of said elements relative to thearticle to draw and shape the glass around the elements to provide aseal therebetween and strengthening the fused glass to minimize crackingthereof.

In a glass working apparatus having a glass fusing heater, thecombination of means for supporting a glass article having an aperturedprojection to which is to be fused an aligned lower end face of atubular glass stem and having apertures each adapted to receive anelement having fixed thereupon a glass annulus to be fused and sealed tothe wall of its aperture, a reciprocatory member for supporting saidelements on their lower end faces with the annuli in the apertures inone position of said member, a slidable head having an aperture alignedwith the article projection'for receiving the glass stem and havingapertures for guiding, receiving and supporting upper ends of theelements, spring-pressed plungers in each of said latter aperturesarranged to individually engage upper end faces of the elements and uponwhich the weight of said head bears for constantly maintaining theelements supported on their lower end faces on the reciprocatory member,means carried by said head for frictionally. slidably supporting theglass stem, and an abutment operatively associated with said member formaintaining it in said one position and upon relative displacementtherefrom permitting movement of said member by the action of gravityrelative to the article supporting means while the fused glass .isplastic to permit said slidable head to move downwardly by the action ofgravity and thereby cause movement of said elements relative to thearticle and its stem to draw and'shape the glass around the elements toprovide a seal therebetween and strengthening the formed glass tominimize cracking thereof.

JAMES W. JUVINALL.

STANLEY J. SNOREK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,004,072 Pierson 1 "Sept. 26,1911 1,432,926 Thronsen Oct. 24, 1922 2,107,254 Horn Feb. 1, 19382,190,788 Horn Feb. 20, 1940- 2,195,483 Franks Apr. 2, 1940 2,220,741Thorson Nov. 5, 1940 2,242,774 Brumley May 20, 1941 2,252,195 Niles Apr.12, 1941 2,288,537 Mallory June 30, 1942 2,296,347, Hinkley et al Sept.22, 1942 2,312,003 Schneider et a1. Feb. 23, 1943 2,321,224 Madden etal. June 8, 1943 2,321,600 Horn June 15, 1943

